Main draw action at the WTA Rogers Cup in Toronto, part of the US Open Series, starts on Monday but qualifying matches began Saturday morning and continued into Sunday. The qualifying draw is filled with players who normally receive direct entry into larger tournaments, but the main draw here is only 64 players. As qualifying weekend is free admission it’s a great chance to see top players in action. Knowing that the women’s version of the Rogers Cup attracts less fans than the concurrent men’s tournament in Montreal, it was pleasantly surprising to see the Aviva Centre (formerly the Rexall Centre) buzzing with fans of all ages.
Matches are being played on the outer courts and all the matches have had a respectable number of fans in the bleachers, and those fans have been treated to some excellent hard fought matches. The three set match won by Carina Witthoeft (#54) of Germany over Sesil Karatantcheva of Bulgaria (#105) had the crowd roaring. The Julia Goerges (Germany #57) versus the American Betthanie Mattek-Sands (#100) match featured a tight second set which Goerges took in a tiebreaker to win the match. But for those who love to watch the serve and volley play of the always colourful Mattek-Sands she did show some of that throughout the match. In the second round of qualifying on Sunday, Goerges won the first set against Yanina Wickmayer (#94) of Belgium to love. But after a bathroom break between sets Wickmayer came back and took the second set. The deciding third set stayed on serve and went to a tiebreaker. Maybe Goerges was thinking about how easily she won the first set and not focussing on the tiebreaker as she made several unforced errors and basically handed the tiebreak and the match to Wickmayer.
As the successful qualifiers find their places in the main draw, keep an eye out for Misaki Doi of Japan (#104) who defeated Ana Konjuh of Croatia (#86) and Casey Dellacqua of Australia (#58). Doi is a good mover on the court and has solid power off her backhand but also plays the angles really well. Other qualifiers that could cause some upsets in the main draw include Carina Witthoeft the rising German and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (#49) from Croatia.
There are several questions that may be answered as the main draw of the tournament progresses.
The first question on most Canadian’s mind is how will their faltering star player, Eugenie Bouchard, fare? Last year she suffered a first-round loss in Montreal to the much lower ranked American Shelby Rogers and during on court-coaching she could be heard telling her coach she didn’t really want to be on the court playing the match.
This year has been tough on the young star as she has an 8-14 win-loss record, has dropped to #25 in the WTA rankings from a high of #5, fired her coach, hired a new coach, fired him, and is now working with an interim coach for this tournament. As if there is not enough pressure on Bouchard the huge banner on the wall of the Aviva Centre featuring her likeness shows just how much Tennis Canada is banking on her winning. The draw was not exactly kind to Bouchard as she will play Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic, ranked #22, in the first round and should she win next up could be Caroline Wozniacki. Although there were some young Canadian players in the qualifying rounds none of them made it to the main draw. Canadian wildcards in the main draw include Carol Zhao, Gabriela Dabrowski, and Francoise Abanda. A main draw win by one of these players could lighten Bouchard’s load just a bit. World #8 Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic may find some fan support as Toronto is the home of her coach Rob Steckley.
Serena Williams, the #1 ranked player, comes into this tournament having played only one match since her Wimbledon victory and the state of her elbow is a question of concern. After posting a win in the tournament immediately following Wimbledon, in Bastad, Sweden Williams withdrew with the right elbow injury. This same injury saw her pull out of the Bank of the West Classic this past week in Stanford. Those who are hoping Williams can complete her second calendar-year Grand Slam are waiting anxiously to see how her arm holds up as the US Open is quickly approaching.
Notably absent from The Toronto tournament is the #2 ranked player, Maria Sharapova, who withdrew late this week citing a leg injury that occurred during a training session. With the withdrawal of Sharapova, World #3 Simona Halepis now seeded #2 . After losing in the first round of Wimbledon, this tournament could answer the questions about her confidence level as hard court season heads toward New York.
Stay tuned for more updates as the main draw begins play tomorrow in Toronto.
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